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Wayne Hollyoak on August 27th, 2008
Posted in People in Science, Interesting Science, New Developments, Intelligent Design, The Role of Faith in Science, Evolutionism, Devotional, Perspecitve | No Comments »
30 years ago, my answer would have been a quick, “of course!” Science to me was mankind’s highest goal and aspiration.- full of honesty and integrity, hope and wisdom. People involved in science were my heros, dedicated to lifting mankind from ignorance and curing all our diseases.
So, when i was accepted into college, i wanted to learn all i could about the sciences. I even joined the biology club and went on all sorts of trips with the other science student and the profs. All the while the head of the bio department was hitting up on the anthropology prof. Both were already married and so the image of science changed suddenly. I learned later after my graduation that that same head of the biology department barricaded himself into one of the campus buildings and held police at bay for hours with a shotgun.
To my surprise, i learned that people in science were no better than anyone else. In fact there seemed to be a higher percentage of kooks in their ranks than in the general population! Some even claimed that there was no God, which scared the begeebers outta me! In fact, as time went on, i learned that a large percentage of scientists had trouble believing in God!
What i didn’t realize then, was that there was a high level of contept towards “religious people” in “science”. My cousin who held a phD in herpetology and was the founder of the Dallas Paleontological Society, was well know in our family to not want any association with any sort of religion. It saddens me to think that he may have still felt that way when he died during a scuba diving accident years ago.
It’s no secret anymore that “science” has become a wedge between may in it’s ranks against their faith in God. How many devout christians have gone to college and became persuaded to turn their back on God and their faith. I was aware of the pressure, the ridicule, the belittleing, the mockery and contempt toward God-fearing people.
Central to this antichristian conviction among the “people of science” and higher education in general was the concept of “evolution”. If Darwin hadn’t come up with the notion that “biological adaptation” could be a basis for a new creation story, one that didn’t need a “guiding hand”. Then, atheists and antichristian people still would be viewed as crazy and insane, and even dangerous.
Today, science has become an institution that welcomes those that openly discriminates against devout christians. Those that respect the scriptures and those that believe in a real Creator who is responsible for life on earth are viewed with contempt and suspision.
How long will “science” be able to continue diluding itself and the masses? Is mankind being tested to see how easily it can be persuaded to abandon the obvious fact of our deliberate creation and this Creator’s wonderful care for us. My guess is that “science” is heading for disaster. Whether or not “science” will maintain credibility for the remainder of this century will hing on it’s willingness to abandon the strange “evolution” creation story and accept respect “people of faith”.
Wayne Hollyoak
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Wayne Hollyoak on August 15th, 2008
Posted in Interesting Science, Intelligent Design, The Role of Faith in Science, Retrospect, Super Nature, Perspecitve | No Comments »
The litmus test of science is the reaction to intelligent design. Litmus paper is used in chemistry to tell if a liquid is an acid or a base. Intelligent design IS THE FOUNDATION of any quest for knowledge. Knowledge is just a sum total of everything you “know”. Science claims to increase the amount of knowledge available to mankind.
But, how can you tell if this thing we refer to as, “science” is on track at all? One thing that “Chaos” theory in science has proven is that “chaos” is a fabrication that has no reality. Yet, this is the greatest assumption of modern science and it’s greatest failure.
Intelligent design “theory” smacks down “science” reveals it’s real essence. Modern science has become a substitute for faith. If you have a problem with ID, you NEED science as a coping mechanism. ID is to biology, what quantum theory is to physics. Both are acknowledgements that man’s theories at their very best are ultra simplistic.
Heb 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
(NIV)
Do you want to gain knowledge? This is where one MUST begin.
Wayne Hollyoak
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Wayne Hollyoak on July 27th, 2008
Posted in Intelligent Design, Super Nature, Devotional, Perspecitve | No Comments »
There are people in remote places in the world who have never heard of Jesus. There are people living in my community who know nothing about Him. There are billions of people in the world that THINK they know who Jesus is, but barely have a clue.
Anyone who uses the name, “Jesus” as a means of expressing their anger demonstrates their ignorance of who Jesus is. Using someone’s name in anger is a visible sign of disrespect and contempt. If you find yourself abusing Jesus’ name, it’s because you do not really know who He is. It’s that simple!
The more you truly get to know Jesus, the more admiration and respect you have for that name. So, how does someone get to really know Jesus? First, lay aside your pride and anger towards Him and start to read the Bible. Start with the Book of John and ask God’s Spirit to guide you. God isn’t some mysterious “force” out there. He is the one that made you.
I could just reiterate what the Bible teaches about Jesus. But, it’s best that you read the Bible for yourself. I was astonished how off base my understanding of Jesus was. That was until i began to read the Bible for myself and really desiring to know Him.
Wayne Hollyoak
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Wayne Hollyoak on July 21st, 2008
Posted in Interesting Science, Intelligent Design, Puzzlers, Retrospect, Super Nature, Perspecitve | No Comments »
The universe that we live in is not entirely friendly to us. There are many creatures that can do us harm. Viruses, bacteria, wild animals can make things hard for us and even kill us in some cases. As mortal beings we must come to grips with the fragile nature of our earthly existence.
So, why would a loving God create things that can harm us? Why are there blood-sucking parasites like mosquitos, ticks and flies? Why do people get drunk and turn their cars into deadly projectiles? Why does God let babies get sick?
Don’t have a simple answer for this. But, there are a few clues that we can work off of to maybe get a better idea. First, the life we live after the death of this body is eternal. So, this body needs to die sooner or later in order for us to “graduate” to the next life. Secondly, there are malicious entities that hate the Creator and mankind. They go by many names, devil, satan, demons, fallen angels, and so on. How much have these creatures been able to mess with creation in an effort to make our lives miserable. Have they ever been given the power to alter the genetics of God’s creatures in their efforts to do mankind harm?
The Book of Job gives us a look at how some of these corrupt spiritual entities try to bring disease and death to humans. The extent to which these entities have altered the genetics of living things is hard to quantify.
Thirdly, we have a very efficient “immune system” in our bodies that constantly protect us from most of the dangerous “germs” out there. This “immune system” was a fantastic design consideration that works very well as long as we take good care of our bodies. The presense of this system speaks volumes about the sorts of “germs” that where being anticipated in the life of a human being.
Wayne Hollyoak
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Wayne Hollyoak on June 8th, 2008
Posted in People in Science, Intelligent Design, The Role of Faith in Science, Retrospect, Super Nature, Evolutionism, Devotional, Perspecitve | No Comments »
No, not specifically, but there is a passage that predicts the sort of society that evolutionism has spawned.
Rom 1:20-32
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator– who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
(NIV)
This is a clear warning of what will happen when people attempt to convince themeselves that we were not created by a Person, Who we will ultimately be responsible to. The truth is, we have been put here deliberately by a Loving Creator. Deep down inside each one of us knows this. It’s an awesome reality and for those who decide to ignore the fact, a scarey one.
Fear is a strong motivator and there are many ways people try to cope with fear. We can either come to grips with the source of fear and learn how to understand and resolve it. Or, find a way to convince oneself and others that the fear is not real.
Darwin had an idea, living things can create themselves. Huxley had a fear, as a atheist and a scientist of sorts, design in nature kept haunting him. Darwin gave him a way out, so he thought. But, atheism is like a drug that releives the conscience of the pain of guilt and the sense of responsibility for one’s ignorance toward the Creator. Like drugs, though, the effect is temporary since the real issues never get resolved.
As created human beings, we must come to grips with the reality of our situation and learn how to accept it and look to our Creator for the way we ought to live and be a peace with Him. This is the only way we will ever be a peace with ourselves as well.
Wayne Hollyoak
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Wayne Hollyoak on May 16th, 2008
Posted in Interesting Science, New Developments, Puzzlers, Retrospect, Perspecitve | No Comments »
Time marches on and things change. I remember when we complained about paying 99.9 cents for a gallon of gas. Who wouldn’t like to pay that much now? As a kid my family lived and breathed cars. My dad was a Chevy factory rep. and every day he was on the road taking orders for car from the dealers in his region. He was good at it, too and won just about every GM promo prize that was offered him.
GM, like all auto makers, makes money by selling their cars and lots of them. Cars run on gas, almost exlusively. Gas is extracted from crude oil pumped out of the earth. There is only so much oil in the ground. When we run out the auto industry will go belly up- that is if there aren’t some big changes and at the top of the list is it’s power source.
Seems like every time i turn around i’m at the pump and laying down a twenty, a couple twenties. Fill it up? What and pay over 40 bucks? Why should anyone drive a vehicle made for 4 people just to drive a single individual back and forth to work everyday? The Chinese use bicycles and motorcycles for primary transportation. They have over a thousand motorcycle manufacturers and they can make them reliable and inexpensive.
So, i bought one for $900 new, shipped to my house. 200cc’s and gets 80 miles to a gallon. Costs 4 dollars and some change to fill the tank. At the current price for gas, it works out to about 5 cents per mile. The car was costing me about 17 cents per mile. I decided that it would make more sense to start using the cycle now while they are still inexpensive and available. If gas goes to $10 per gallon and no doubt it will, there’s gonna be a whole lot more motorcycles on the road and they’ll be much more costly to buy.
Hope more people will do the same and choose to ride on bikes and motorcycles to get around whenever it’s practical for them. Oil will run out and so will gas, how much longer will it me available and how expensive depends on us and how wisely we us it.
Wayne Hollyoak
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Wayne Hollyoak on March 11th, 2008
Posted in New Developments, Puzzlers, Evolutionism, Perspecitve | No Comments »
The entertainment industry reveals a lot about the darker side of humanity. Violence, criminals of all sorts, gangsters, corpses in all stages of decomposition, cruelty of every sort and kind imaginable sell on tv and the movies. Occasionally, i’ll stop into a video game store in the mall and it’s always the same. Shelves full of boxes with “games” that allow people to “enjoy” killing simulations of every sort.
it’s like a Cain Complex or something! Is it that we like to see all the Ables of the world get “justice”, or is it that we crave to know the inner workings of the criminal mind? There’s even a “doctor” who prides in his selfishness and egotism in a way that would make Howard Stern blush and yet is portrayed as “the best doctor we got” in the commercials for the show.
Why is this stuff a financial success? Whatever happened to “Leave it to Beaver” and “Lassie”? Is anybody paying attention to where we’re going here? Are we a generation of lemmings running for the cliff? Is that where the expression, “generation X” comes from? Is this the generation that has no soul?
Have we all really been brainwashed into believing that we are “animals”? Well i guess that’s understandable given the forced programming of evolutionism in our schools today. Along with it comes recreational sex, massacres in classrooms and hallways, children out of control and parents on edge, even young men and women strapping bombs to themselves and setting them off in crowds of strangers.
How will it end?
Wayne Hollyoak
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Wayne Hollyoak on February 23rd, 2008
Posted in Interesting Science, New Developments, Intelligent Design, Physics/Gravity, Puzzlers, The Role of Faith in Science, Super Nature, Devotional, Perspecitve | No Comments »
There’s been some interesting things happening lately. A major earthquake in Nevada, tornadoes in February and asteroids zinging past our planet. A couple of asteroids passed by us passing closer than the Moon and so were, for a while, influenced by the earth’s gravity to some degree. As our solar system gets closer and closer to the center axis of our galaxy, the “Milky Way”, i would expect to see lots of debris of this sort entering into our solar system.
The Bible speaks of a day in the future when a “star” would fall from the sky that would be called, “wormwood”. If you’ve ever seen what asteroids look like, that would be a good description. An interesting validation of the true prophetic nature of this great book.
It’s also interesting that people would use this name for the “star”. Maybe there would be advanced warning about an asteroid on a collision course with earth and this name became a household term.
Asteroids and comets are monitored carefully these days. Men keep track of their orbits around the sun and look for any that may possibly strike the earth in the future. But, passing thru the center plane of the enormous galaxy our little solar system orbits in is a horse of a different color. Our solar system is bound to pick up many “new” objects from the debris field that may exist there.
2012 will be the year that our solar system reaches the center axis of the Milky Way and will begin it’s journey to the other side and the unknown. The trip around the galaxy takes 60,000 years? and we pass thru the center plane twice along the way at aproxiamately 30,000 year intervals.
Where is “Wormwood” now, already on a collision course with earth as our solar system nears it’s region in the galaxy. Will it orbit the sun a few times first so that we can track it for several years first. Will we make heroic efforts to use spacecraft to move it out of it’s collision course with our planet?
Were these recent flybys just a shot across the bow to shake our confidence in man’s ability to avert such an event. None of these near misses were expected. The objects were never seen before in the night skies.
But, Wormwood is out there, and when it comes, it won’t make a flyby!
Wayne Hollyoak
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Wayne Hollyoak on February 7th, 2008
Posted in Intelligent Design, Devotional, Perspecitve, Music | No Comments »
In my teen years during the 70’s, late 60’s i was a part of a garage band, “Heart’s Blood”. We were really just a trio with me on bass, Phil a singer and guitar player and Mike the drummer. We could play 2 or 3 songs and Phil and Mike were OK musicians.
My church, First Baptist, has a wonderful group of musicians. I’m really blessed to be a part of so many fun and rewarding musical ministries. The Sweethearts Banquet is coming up and Kenny has formed an inpromptu band to do some 50’s 60’s pop/rock fun stuff. The plan is to prepare some comic, fun surprises for those that attend.
Even Pastor Ed, who is a fine guitar player and really enjoys lighthearted fun, is joining in. I’ll be rythym guitar this time and during practice, last night, the sound was not bad.
For some of us, it’s a chance to try to recreate some of the really fun musical things we enjoyed listening to in the old days. One of the many surprises that my Creator had for me since i’ve become a Christian.
So many times, God has amazed me in the way he gives us the desires of our hearts. He tell us, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” For me, the struggle is to stay on track and keep Him first.
At times, though, i find out that many of my heart ambitions aren’t all that they’re cracked up to be. My heavenly Father has allowed me to try a little taste of some of my musical ambitions. Maybe it’s just to help me see them a little better in perspective of life.
Wayne Hollyoak
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Wayne Hollyoak on January 28th, 2008
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There’s an interesting story behind the hit movie series, “Star Wars”. George Lucas wanted to bring a scifi adventure tale to the screen in a way that no one had done before. One of the ways “Star Wars” was to be unique was that it would have it’s own masterpiece of a musical score.
Previously, Stanley Kubrick had used some classical pieces in his scifi, “2001, A Space Oddesey”. Classical music is probably the epitome of disciplined and refined musical genres. Lucas uses classical orchestration to his own means as a background to telling his tale. It’s a very effective way to give an otherwise comic book story much more dignity and grandiuer.
Music has a profound effect on us. As a Christian, and a musician of sorts, my goal is to make my music become subject to Christ and His teaching. Like the fictional war that Lucas’ character, Luke Skywalker was fighting with the “dark side of the force”, there is a dark side to music.
Music effects us in profound and subtle ways that we don’t fully understand. Our sense of hearing is designed to give us an awareness of our surroundings, to enable verbal communication and to enjoy certain complex, rythmic patterns of sounds we call, “music”.
I doubt that music was ever intended to become the obsession that it has become to the western world. Many people spend thousands of bucks each year on their musical cravings. CD’s, concert tickets, iPods, boom boxes, mp3’s, music videos, etc.
I play guitar and bass for a youth choir at my church. Kenny, the director also plays for them and we work on lots of familiar pop and rock tunes from our younger days. We take songs and add our own words and make them songs of praise and worship for the kids. It’s a way for them to lead the mostly adult congregation into a closer relationship with Christ.
But, it’s a challenge to extricate the irreverence and attitude of arrogance and pride from many of the original recordings. One way is to poke a little fun at the original lyrics and another is to soften the hard edge of the instrumentals. The difficulty i find over and over is my tendency to let the music dictate how i play rather than the opposite.
It’s just one of the ways that God has challenged me to gain mastery over my own selfishness and pride and learn how to offer Him service, devotion and humility.
Wayne Hollyoak